Dangerous tans.

E, September, 2003 by Allen, Kim; deBlanc-Knowles, Jaime

More than 28 million Americans patronize tanning salons each year, with young women constituting the fastest-growing group of users. A recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found a staggering 51 percent of high school girls visited tanning beds at least four times in the past year. "Laying out" is a cheap pastime--sessions under the lights run for roughly five bucks a pop--but dermatologists wonder about the long-term costs.

Teens may run the greatest risk of developing skin cancer, says Margaret Karagas, associate director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth Medical School. Karagas' research shows that the risk of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma increases for people exposed at a young age....

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